Hand of the day #566
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This conundrum was written by Julian Pottage and was originally published in the book Play or Defend? 68 Hands to Test Your Bridge Skill - you can find out all about it further down the page.
Contract: 3NT
Opening Lead: ♠6
The obvious play to Trick 1 goes six, eight, ten, queen. Then cross to the ♣A to take a diamond finesse. If West wins and plays a small spade (allowing for the ♠Q to be a falsecard from Q-J-x), the contract makes with an overtrick. With the spades blocked, the defenders collect just two diamonds and a spade. Leading the ♠K to the bare ace works much better. Now the suit will run once West regains the lead in diamonds.
Suppose South ducks the opening lead in both hands. East can return a spade and West must decide whether to sacrifice the king. It matters little as dummy’s pair of ace-kings stop the rounded suits and East can never win the third round of spades.
Perhaps East works out that the ♠6 cannot be fourth best and, placing South with ♠K-x-x-x, switches to the ♥Q at Trick 2. No, that fails as well. The king wins and, when West continues with a low heart after winning the first diamond, declarer can afford to put up dummy’s ♥A to block the suit. Does this mean the contract should make?
If East can take the first round of spades with the ten, a switch to a low heart proves a killer. You cannot let the ♥10 win, or West can play a spade to the ace. Having taken it, any subsequent heart lead will present you with only losing options: win in dummy and lose two hearts, or duck and see East go back to spades. In either case, three losers in the majors and two in diamonds spell defeat.
You can make this contract. To do so you must call for the ♠A straight away. Then take one diamond finesse, win the club or heart shift on the table and take a second diamond finesse (even though East shows out). West makes another diamond trick, but you still have all suits stopped.
Note that you risk nothing in putting up dummy’s ♠A. Since both the diamond finesses go into the hand on your left, you still have a double stopper, which would be important if the lead was from king to four. You are surely going down if West started with king to five or six spades and the king-jack of diamonds — with no side entry, you can hardly play your ♦A on the second round of diamonds whether East follows or not.
Sharpen your bridge skills with Play or Defend? by Julian Pottage, a collection of 68 hands designed to challenge your judgment and strategy. Each scenario presents a dilemma—whether to play or defend—offering insights and solutions that enhance your decision-making. Perfect for intermediate/advanced players eager to refine their techniques and deepen their understanding of the game.
I think that should be "Cross to the !CA" rather than "!SA" in the second sentence of the play description.
H byby gggbn